Monday, 30 June 2014

Continued from the essay entitled Gerald Hill and 1026 North Beckley on
this blog:

A photograph taken by Dallas Morning News photographer Jack Beers, shows a man identified
as assistant Dallas district attorney William Alexander, as he is about to
enter a DPD squad car (see here).
There can be little doubt that this was Sgt. Calvin “Bud” Owens unmarked squad
car, as Owens told the Warren Commission that Alexander went with him to the
Tippit murder scene. As this writer has stated previously, Hill told the Warren
Commission that he went to the Tippit murder scene with Owens and Alexander,
and that this was confirmed by Alexander. In the aforementioned photograph, a
uniformed Officer is blocking the view of the front half of Owens’ car, and
therefore, we are unable to see whether Hill was sitting in the front passenger
seat. The photograph also fails to show any officer who bears a resemblance to
Hill approaching the car. Although Hill could have been seated in the car by
the time the photograph was taken, there are numerous problems with the notion
that Hill went with Owens and Alexander to the Tippit murder scene.

When Hill was interviewed by Bob Whitten of
KCRA radio shortly following Oswald’s arrest, he told Whitten that “That call came out [on Tippit’s shooting] –
the acting Lieutenant in Oak Cliff and I were together standing [outside the
TSBD] talking to [inspector J. Herbert Sawyer] and he ordered us – being that
we had all the Police in town pulled down there on Elm Street – he ordered us
to leave this investigation of the President’s shooting and go to Oak Cliff” (WCD
1210, page 3). When Owens testified before the Warren Commission, he claimed
that he was indeed the acting Lieutenant of the DPD Oak Cliff substation on the
day of the assassination (WC Volume VII, page 78). The important thing to keep
in mind is that Hill made no mention of Alexander going to Oak Cliff with him. We
should also keep in mind that during a press conference on the day of the
assassination, Hill told reporters that he went to the Tippit murder scene with
Owens, but neglected to mention that Alexander went with them (this can be
heard here at about the 1 hour, 54
minute, 20 second mark).

Hill also told reporters that he and Owens
were instructed by inspector Sawyer to “…report
to Oak Cliff and begin the investigation out there.” Finally, the reader
should consider that in the report which Hill wrote out (on the day of the
assassination) concerning Oswald’s arrest, he once again failed to mention that
Alexander went to the Tippit murder scene with him and Owens (WCD 87, page 196),
(WC Volume VII, pages 59 and 60). If Hill really did travel to the Tippit murder
scene with Owens and Alexander, it seems incredibly odd to this writer that he
wouldn’t have at least mentioned in his report that Alexander went with them.
Let’s now look at what Hill told the Warren Commission. According to Hill; “I was talking to Inspector Sawyer, telling
him what we found [on the sixth floor of the TSBD], when Sgt. C.B. Owens of Oak
Cliff – he was senior sergeant out there that day, and actually acting
Lieutenant – came up and wanted to know what we wanted him to do, being that he
had been dispatched to the scene” (WC Volume VII, page 47).

As far as this writer is aware, there is no
report by Owens amongst the files in the Dallas Municipal archives.
Furthermore, there doesn’t appear to be any interview of Owens by the FBI or
the USSS in which he explained who went with him to the Tippit murder scene. The
reader should consider that Owens told the Warren Commission (when he testified
on April, 9, 1964) “Before I arrived [at
Elm and Houston], the squad was dispatched to pick up a man – an officer on
Stemmons, who had a colored man, who had information regarding the shooting.
Since I was close, I stopped and picked up a colored man, a lady and two
children, and [took] them to Elm and Houston, and notified Inspector Sawyer of
what I had. He informed me to send them to the sheriff's office where they had
set up this interrogation room. I turned them over to a patrolman there with
the instructions to take them over to the sheriff's office. I stayed with
Inspector Sawyer until I was informed that there was a shooting in Oak Cliff
involving a police officer (ibid, page 79).

According to the transcripts of the DPD radio
communications, Owens reported that he had the man in his car sometime between
12:55 pm and 1:04 pm (WC Volume XXI, Sawyer Exhibit No. A), (WCE 705/1974). As
we can see, Owens told the Warren Commission that he informed Sawyer about the
man who had information concerning the shooting, and that he was told to take
them to the Sheriff’s Office. However, Hill made no mention of this during his
testimony. As a matter of fact, Hill’s testimony strongly implies that Owens
had just arrived at Elm and Houston; and didn’t have any information for Sawyer.
As discussed previously in this writer’s essay on Hill, Sawyer reported the
discovery of the spent shell casings over the DPD radio at approximately 1:11
pm. Consider that if Hill was the source
of information for sawyer’s transmission, it makes little sense that Sawyer
would wait for over a minute before reporting this important information. So
unless it somehow took Owens over seven minutes to report to Sawyer (who was
standing near the entrance to the TSBD) in person after he reported over the
radio “I have the [man] that saw the
President get hit in my car. I’m on the Elm Street side of the Triple underpass
just before you go up on Stemmons [Freeway],” Hill was lying.

Owens went on to explain “I told Inspector Sawyer that I was assigned to Oak Cliff and an
officer was involved in the shooting, and I was taking off, so I proceeded – I
got in my car, and Captain Westbrook and Bill Alexander, an assistant district
attorney, also was in the car with me and we started out to – I think the call
came out at 400 East 10th or 400 East Jefferson” (WC Volume VII, page 79). It
seems to this writer that Owens was saying that Captain Westbrook went with him
and Alexander to the Tippit murder scene. However, Captain Westbrook told the
Warren Commission that he went to the Tippit murder scene with Sergeant R.D.
(Henry) Stringer and “some patrolman”
whose name he could not recall (ibid, page 111). Could Owens have mistaken Hill
for Captain Westbrook? In this writer’s opinion, it is highly doubtful. For one
thing, photographs and film footage of Hill show that he was a stocky and
overweight man, whereas photographs and film footage of Westbrook show that the
was a slim man.

According to Dale Myers, Westbrook is the man
seen to the right of Tippit murder witness Warren Reynolds, holding his right
arm and looking around, in the famous Ron Reiland film (this can be seen here at about the 55 second mark). As
the reader can see, Westbrook’s face looked dissimilar to Hill’s. Furthermore, Westbrook
had a pinkish complexion, which earned him the nickname “pinky” (With Malice,
Chapter 5). Could Owens have simply misspoken, or was he misquoted by the court
reporter? Although this is certainly possible, given the fact that the names
Westbrook and Hill sound nothing alike, in this writer’s opinion, it is highly
doubtful. Suffice it to say, Owens never mentioned during his testimony that
Hill went with him to the Tippit murder scene. The reader should bear in mind
that unlike Hill’s claim that Sawyer ordered/instructed him and Owens to
proceed to the Tippit murder scene, Owens’ claimed that “I told Inspector Sawyer that I was assigned to Oak Cliff and an officer
was involved in the shooting, and I was taking off.”

As for inspector Sawyer, he told the Warren
Commission that “…when the shooting on
Officer Tippit came in, I released half a dozen men to go to Oak Cliff to help
with that” (WC Volume VI, page 325). Although the meaning of the word
“released” is open to interpretation, the important point to keep in mind is
that Sawyer failed to corroborate Hill’s claim that he (Sawyer)
ordered/instructed him and Owens to proceed to the Tippit murder scene. Hill
also told the Warren Commission that; “We
[Owens and Hill] were standing there with Inspector Sawyer and Assistant
District Attorney Bill Alexander came up to us, and we had been standing there
for a minute when we heard the strange voice on the police radio that said
something to the effect that, if I remember right, either the first call that
came out said that they were in the 400 block of East Jefferson, and that an
officer had been shot, and the voice on the radio, whoever it was, said he
thought he was dead” (WC Volume VII,
page 47).

Hill went on to explain that; “At this point Sergeant Owens said something
to the effect that this would have been one of his men…[Inspector] Sawyer said, "Well, as much
help as we have here, why don't you go with Sergeant Owens to Oak Cliff on that
detail." And Bill Alexander said, "Well, if it is all right, I will
go with you." And the reporter, Jim Ewell, came up, and I said an officer
had been shot in Oak Cliff, and he wanted to go with us also” (ibid). As we
can see, Hill’s testimony that Sawyer told him "Well, as much help as we have here, why don't you go with
Sergeant Owens to Oak Cliff on that detail" is not consistent with his
claim on the day of the assassination that Sawyer had ordered him to proceed to
the Tippit murder scene. We should also keep in mind that during his interview
with Eddie Barker of CBS in 1967, Hill told Barker that Sawyer said to him “…well, you know what our suspect looks [like]…
you go to Oak Cliff” (click here
to read the transcript of Hill’s interview with Barker).

During his telephone interview with
researcher Jeff Meek in the year 1976, Hill explained that “…being that [the DPD] had enough help [at the] downtown location at
that time, and being that there had been a description broadcast of the suspect
in the shooting of the President… inspector [Sawyer] said, ‘you know what the
guy we’re looking, you know, we’re looking for looks like, but go out and work
on the shooting in Oak Cliff’” (this can be listened to here at about the 6 minute mark). Finally,
the reader should consider that Hill told author Larry Sneed that Sawyer remarked
to him “Well, I have enough help here.
You know what our suspect looks like…You go to Oak Cliff and assist in the
investigation over there” (Sneed, No
More Silence, page 295). Despite the fact that what Hill told Barker, Meek,
and Sneed is consistent with his initial claim that Sawyer had ordered him to
proceed to Oak Cliff, as pointed out previously, Owens failed to corroborate
Hill’s claim when he testified before the Warren Commission.

Let’s now take into account the statements
William Alexander made with regards to Hill travelling with him and Sgt. Owens
to the Tippit murder scene. During his interview with Ronnie Dugger (the former
editor of the Texas Observer and the special correspondent for the Washington
Post at the time of the assassination), Alexander explained that after they
heard over the DPD radio that an Officer had been shot “[Sawyer] said there was no available car as Tippit was the only
policeman situated in Oakcliff at the time. Owens told [Sawyer] that he would
take [the] call” and that “…he knew
the DA’s phone was covered so he jumped into the back seat with Owens and Jerry
Hill” (this can be read here on
pages 12 and 13). Let’s also take into account that when Alexander was
interviewed by Larry Sneed, he told Sneed that “…a call came in that an officer had been shot over in Oak Cliff. There
were no squads in Oak Cliff to cover that, so Sawyer looked around to see who
was available. Sergeant Bud Owens had his car packed right there at the
intersection and said, ‘I’ll take the call!’” (Sneed, No More Silence, page 531).

According to Alexander, Sawyer then remarked “Well, you better take somebody with you,”
and that after Owens allegedly told Sawyer that there wasn’t anybody else
available, Hill remarked “I can go if you
can spare me!” (ibid, page 532). Alexander also claimed that after Sawyer allegedly
consented to Hill going with Owens, he (Alexander) told Sawyer “Well, I’ll go, so let’s go!” (ibid). As
we can see, not only did Alexander contradict Hill’s claim that Sawyer
ordered/instructed him go to the Tippit murder scene with Owens, but
Alexander’s claim that he said “Well,
I’ll go, so let’s go!,” contradicts Hill’s claim that Alexander said "Well, if it is all right, I will go
with you.” In order to believe that the discrepancies between the
statements of Hill and Alexander was simply due to Alexander misremembering
what was said, we must ignore all of the evidence discussed in this essay that
Hill did not travel to the Tippit murder scene in Sgt. Owens’ car.

We should also keep in mind that Owens’
testimony that “I stayed with Inspector
Sawyer until I was informed that there was a shooting in Oak Cliff involving a
police officer,” and that“I told Inspector Sawyer that I was assigned
to Oak Cliff and an officer was involved in the shooting, and I was taking off,” implies that unlike what Hill claimed,
neither he nor Sawyer were standing near a DPD radio when T.F. Bowley reported
that an Officer had been shot, but that Owens learned about the shooting from
another officer at the TSBD. Although Sawyer never claimed that he heard about Tippit’s
shooting over the DPD radio when he testified before the Warren Commission, during his aforementioned interview with
Ronnie Dugger, Alexander implied that both Owens and Sawyer heard Bowley’s
transmission that an Officer had been shot. However, due to the passage of
time, Alexander may have misremembered that they all heard about the shooting
over the radio.

What gives credence to this belief is that
Alexander (apparently) told Dugger that prior to hearing over the radio that an
Officer had been shot, a message was broadcast over the radio “calling for assistance to a police
officer.” Contrary to this claim, no such message appears in any of the
transcripts of the DPD radio recordings. As pointed out previously, Hill told
the Warren Commission that “…the
reporter, Jim Ewell, came up, and I said an officer had been shot in Oak Cliff,
and he wanted to go with us also,” thus implying that Ewell went with him
to the Tippit murder scene. During his interview with Jeff Meek, Hill remarked
that he believed Ewell did go with him. However, when Ewell was interviewed by
author Larry Sneed, he told Sneed that he went to the murder scene with Captain
W.R. Westbrook and Sgt. Henry H. Stringer (Sneed, No More Silence, page 7). Furthermore, according to the article by
Kent Biffle (staff writer for the Dallas
Morning news) entitled Eyewitnesses
To Tragedy, Ewell claimed that he went with Westbrook to the Tippit murder
scene (click here to read the
article).

The reader should keep in mind that neither
Owens nor Alexander claimed that Ewell was in the car with them. Hill was
therefore mistaken or lying when he claimed Ewell went to the murder scene with
him. Although Westbrook never told the Warren Commission or Larry Sneed that
Ewell went with him to the Tippit murder scene, Ewell nevertheless claimed that
he went with Westbrook. The evidence discussed thus far indicates that Hill did
not travel to the Tippit murder scene in Sgt. Owens car. This writer should
point out that according to Dale Myers, there was an unidentified fourth man in
the car with Owens, Alexander, and Hill (With
Malice, Chapter 5). During his interview with Larry Sneed, Hill told Sneed
that he rode in the front seat of Owens’ car with Alexander riding in the back
(Sneed, No More Silence, page 295).
As pointed out previously, Alexander was photographed getting into the back
seat of Owens’ car. Although Hill’s claim suggests that he did ride in Owens
car, he could easily have learned that Alexander was riding in the back of the
car after conversing with Owens and/or Alexander.

The fact that Alexander was riding in the
back of Owens’ certainly does suggest that somebody was riding in the front
seat next to Owens. Given all of the evidence that Hill didn’t travel to the
Tippit murder scene in Owens’ car, this was probably the unidentified “fourth man.” Let’s also take into
account that Hill told the Warren Commission “As we [Owens, Alexander, and Hill] passed, just before we got to
Colorado [Blvd.] on Beckley [Avenue], an ambulance with a Police car behind it
passed us en route to Methodist hospital” (WC Volume VII, page 47). Hill
maintained this claim during his subsequent interview with Larry Sneed (Sneed, No More Silence, page 295). In fact, Hill told Sneed that the ambulance
passed “in front of” them (ibid). According
to Google Maps, Methodist hospital (now referred to as the Methodist Dallas
Medical Center) is located on the Northwest corner of the intersection of
Colorado Blvd. and North Beckley Avenue.

In his supplementary offense report on
Tippit’s murder, DPD Officer Robert A. Davenport wrote that he “…met the ambulance carrying [Tippit] to
Methodist hospital” (Dallas Municipal archives, Box 1, Folder 4, Item 6). During
an interview with Dale Myers in 1983, Davenport explained that he met the
ambulance near the intersection of Zangs and Colorado Blvd. (With Malice, Chapter 5). Myers then writes
that; “[Owens’] squad car was approaching
the corner of Beckley and Colorado. The officers saw the Dudley Hughes
ambulance pass in front of them, headed West on Colorado [Blvd.] toward
Methodist Hospital…” (ibid). Although Davenport’s report (and subsequent
interview with Myers) provides indirect corroboration for Hill’s claim that the
ambulance with the Police car behind it passed by Owens’ car en route to
Methodist Hospital, there are several problems with Hill’s claim.

First of all, according to the recordings of channel
1 of the DPD radio transmissions, Hill informed the dispatchers that “Dudley Hughes [ambulance] passed in front
of me going to Beckley – he looked like he might have had [Tippit],” after
he was asked “what ambulance took
[Tippit]” (this can be heard here
on John McAdam’s website). There can be no doubt that Hill made the transmission,
as it was his voice (listen here for
a comparison). Hill’s claim that he saw the ambulance pass in front of him “going to Beckley” implies that he had
actually seen the ambulance go by him somewhere to the east of North Beckley
Avenue, and not as he was approaching
the Beckley/Colorado intersection going south on North Beckley. If he really
had seen the ambulance pass by going West on Colorado as Owens’ car was
approaching the intersection travelling south on North Beckley Avenue, then he
probably would have told the dispatchers, words to the effect; “Dudley Hughes passed
in front of us going West on Colorado towards Methodist hospital…”

Secondly, Owens made no mention of seeing the
ambulance with a squad car behind it pass in front of him; as he was driving to
the Tippit murder scene, when he testified before the Warren Commission. In
fact, the recordings of channel 1 of the DPD radio communications reveal that
after the dispatchers asked Owens “19,
where did the officer go?” Owens responded “I saw some squads going towards Methodist real fast – I imagine that’s
where [Tippit] is” (this can be heard here
on John McAdams’ website). Although WCE 705 shows that the officer who
responded to the dispatchers question was “unknown”,
there can be no doubt that the aforementioned transmission was made by Owens,
as not only do the transcripts of the DPD radio communications show that the
number 19 was assigned to Owens, but a comparison of the voice which made the
transmission reveals that Owens was indeed the Officer who made the
transmission.

The significance of Owens’ transmission is
that he never mentioned anything about seeing the ambulance with a DPD squad
car behind it pass in front of his car heading towards Methodist hospital; even
though his transmission reveals that he knew where the hospital was located. In
Myers book, there is a photograph showing the ambulance (a four door station
wagon) which was used to transport Tippit’s body from the murder scene to
Methodist hospital (With Malice,
chapter 5). Given that the ambulance would have passed in front of his squad
car at a high rate of speed, could Owens have mistook it for a squad car?
Although this is certainly possible, we should nevertheless bear in mind that
Hill’s aforementioned transmission that “Dudley
Hughes [ambulance] passed in front of me going to Beckley…” implies that he
observed the ambulance somewhere to the east of Beckley Avenue. So even if
Owens observed the ambulance (with the squad car behind it) pass in front of
him, and mistook it for “some squads,” this
doesn’t mean that Hill was in the car with him.

Finally, during his interview with Ronnie
Dugger, William Alexander evidently claimed that “The Police car arrived at 10th and Crawford, a couple of miles away,
and the ambulance pulled out, witnessed were gathered around as the Police car
arrived a few minutes later.” Although this writer isn’t certain, it
appears as though Alexander was saying that Owens’ car had arrived after the ambulance left with Tippit’s
body. When Alexander was interviewed by Larry Sneed, he told Sneed that “We arrived at Tenth and Patton and found
the officer’s squad car, J.D. Tippit’s, just as the ambulance was pulling away
with Tippit’s body,” and that
“Apparently we were the first Police to get to Tippit’s squad car” (Sneed, No More Silence, page 533). But contrary
to Alexander’s claim, the first officer to (allegedly) arrive at the murder
scene was Kenneth Hudson Croy; who at the time of the assassination was a
Sergeant in the DPD reserves (readers are encouraged to read through the thread
entitled Kenneth Hudson Croy on Greg
Parker’s research forum).

When Croy testified before the Warren
Commission, he stated that after he arrived at the murder scene “I watched them load [Tippit] in the
ambulance,” and when asked if other officers were at the murder scene when
he arrived, he claimed “None that I saw”
(WC Volume XII, pages 200 and 201). Furthermore, Alexander told Sneed that
while en route to the murder scene in Owens’ car “We hadn’t gone far till a description of the person that shot the
officer started coming over the radio…” (Sneed, No More Silence, page 532). According to the transcripts of channel
1 of the DPD radio communications, Officer Roy W. Walker put out a broadcast of
the killer’s description shortly before Owens (or someone else in Owens’ car)
reported over the radio that “19’s code
6” (WCE 705/1974). The transcripts reveal that a “code 6” meant that an officer
was reporting that he was at his destination (WCE 705).

During an interview with Dale Myers in 1983,
Walker claimed that he obtained the description of the killer from eyewitness
Warren Reynolds at the scene of the murder (With
Malice, Chapter 5). The transcripts of channel 1of the DPD radio recordings also reveal that
immediately before Owens (or somebody else in Owens’ car) reported that “19’s code 6,” officers Joe M. Poe and
Leonard E. Jez reported “We’re at the
location [where Tippit was shot] now” (WCE 705/1974). Whilst it is apparent
that Alexander mistaken about being “…the
first Police to get to Tippit’s squad car,” and that Owens’ car arrived “…just as the ambulance was pulling away with
Tippit’s body,” he nevertheless failed to corroborate Hill’s claim that the
ambulance with a DPD squad car passed in front of Owens’ car as they were en
route to the murder scene. However, we should keep in mind that if the ambulance and squad car passed in
front of Owens’ car as Hill claimed, Alexander may have missed seeing it
because his view may have been blocked by Owens’ seat; as he was sitting in the
back of the car.

During his explanation of what occurred
following his arrival at the Tippit murder scene in Owens’ car, Hill told the
Warren Commission “The first man that
came up to me, he said, ‘The man that shot [Tippit] was a white male about
5’10”, weighing 160 to 170 pounds, had on a jacket and a pair of dark trousers,
and brown bushy hair’” (WC Volume VII, page 47). Hill went on to explain
that after he allegedly obtained the description of Tippit’s killer from the so-called
witness “At this point the first squad
rolled up, and that would have been squad 105, which had been dispatched from
downtown. An officer named Joe Poe, and I believe his partner was a boy named
Jez” (ibid). As stated previously, the transcripts of the DPD radio
recordings show that Poe and Jez reported “We’re
at the location [where Tippit was shot] now” immediately before the
transmission from someone in Owens’ car that “19’s code 6”.

The transcripts reveal that the dispatchers
were concerned about whether Owens’ was en route to the murder scene, as he was
asked “19, are you en route” (WCE
705/1974). With this in mind, it makes little sense that Owens would wait to
notify the dispatchers that he had arrived at the murder scene, until after Hill allegedly obtained the
description of the killer from the so-called witness. Hill’s remark also
implies that Owens car was the first to arrive at the murder scene, with the
squad car driven by Poe and Jez being the second to arrive. Although reserve
Sgt. Kenneth Croy was (allegedly) the first officer in uniform to arrive at the
murder scene, he told the Warren Commission that he was driving his own car (WC
Volume XII, page 200). Furthermore, as stated previously, Officer Roy W. Walker
(who was assigned squad car 127 on the day of the assassination) told Dale
Myers that he had obtained the description of Tippit’s killer from eyewitness
Warren Reynolds at the murder scene; which he had broadcasted over the DPD
radio prior to the arrival of Poe,
Jez, and Owens (With Malice, Chapter
5), (WCE 2645).

Now unless Owens; or the person in Owens’ car
who reported to the dispatchers that “19’s
code 6,” waited until after Walker
broadcasted the description of Tippit’s killer over the DPD radio, and after Poe and Jez reported that they had
arrived at the murder scene, Owens’ car was not
the first to arrive at the murder scene as Hill’s aforementioned remark
implies. Hill also told the Warren Commission that another witness informed him
that Tippit’s killer had run into the Dudley Hughes parking lot, and then took
off his jacket (WC Volume VII, page 48). Myers writes in his book that the
identity of this man is unknown, but speculates that it may have been
eyewitness B.M. (Pat) Patterson; who observed Tippit’s killer come down Patton
Street and then turn west onto Jefferson Blvd. (With Malice, Chapter 5). During an interview with reporters on the
day of the assassination, Hill explained that “…we had a witness that said he saw the suspect stop long enough to
reload his pistol after shooting the officer” (WCE 2160).

Although Patterson would eventually tell the
FBI that he had seen Tippit’s killer stop still, remove spent shell casings
from the revolver, then reload the gun, Patterson made absolutely no mention of
this during his initial interview with the FBI on January 22, 1964 (WC Volume
XXI, Patterson (B.M.) Exhibit A). Furthermore, as explained in part 2 of this
writer’s review of With Malice (which
can be read here), neither Warren
Reynolds, L.J. Lewis, Harold Russell, Ted Callaway, and Sam Guinyard, ever
claimed that Tippit’s killer had stopped still then removed spent shell casings
from the revolver (see under the subheading entitled VIII: Proof positive). Although Hill could have obtained the aforementioned information about the killer
stopping still then removing spent shell casings from the gun from an
unidentified witness, as far as this writer is concerned, no credible witness
is on record claiming that he had seen Tippit’s killer stop still, then discard
the spent shell casings. Let’s also keep in mind that Tippit’s killer had
discarded his jacket in the parking lot behind Roger Ballew’s Texaco service
station, and not in the parking lot
of Dudley Hughes’ funeral home as Hill told the Warren Commission.

This writer should also point out that in her
book Investigation of a homicide,
Judy Bonner writes that "A
dark-haired man dressed in a grimy mechanic's uniform stepped out from the group
on the corner and addressed [Sgt.] Hill” (Bonner, Investigation of a
homicide, pages 91 and 92). According to Bonner, the so-called witness told
Hill that "I seen him [do] it. I was
driving the other way on Tenth [Street]. He fired three shots. The policeman
didn't even get to draw" (ibid). Bonner then writes that after Hill
asked the so-called witness "Can you
give us a description?" the “witness” told him; "Yeah, he was thin, not to tall-I'd say about five feet ten-with
dark hair. He was wearing one of those Eisenhower-type windbreaker jackets…
"Light coloured. Grey or tan, I think. Or it might have been white”
(ibid). Although the so-called witness sounds like Domingo Benavides; who
worked for the Harris bros. auto sales as a mechanic, the problem is that
Benavides told the Warren Commission that after Tippit was shot “[Tippit’s] gun was in his hand and he was
partially lying on his gun in his right hand. He was partially lying on his gun
and his hand, too” (WC Volume VI, page 449).

Readers should also bear in mind that
Benavides told the Warren Commission that Tippit’s killer was wearing a “light-beige” jacket, and never claimed
that it was an Eisenhower-type windbreaker jacket (ibid, page 450). Although
Benavides identified WCE 163 (the dark greyish blue jacket Oswald allegedly
left at the TSBD on the day of the assassination) as the one the killer was
wearing, instead of the light gray jacket (WCE 162), it’s entirely possible
that counsel David Belin misspoke, or that he was misquoted by the court reporter
who transcribed Benavides testimony. But most significantly of all, when
Counsel David Belin asked Benavides “When
the officers came out [to the murder scene], did you tell them what you had
seen?” Benavides claimed that he didn’t! (ibid, page 451). It is also
important to keep in mind that Bonner’s book contains absolutely no references,
and doesn’t have an index. This writer is also unaware of any other witness who
was allegedly dressed in a mechanics uniform, and who was “…driving the other way on Tenth [Street].” Suffice it to say,
there is no good reason to believe that Hill ever spoke to such a witness.

On a final note, Hill claimed during his
interview with Larry Sneed that Tippit’s revolver was laying on the ground
after he arrived at the murder scene (Sneed, No More Silence, page 295). However, during his testimony before
the Warren Commission, Ted Callaway, who allegedly witnessed Tippit’s killer heading
down Patton Street, claimed that he; “…picked
[Tippit’s] gun up and laid it on the hood of [Tippit’s] squad car, and then
someone put it in the front seat of [his] squad car. Then after I helped load
Officer Tippit in the ambulance, I got the gun out of the car…” (WC Volume
III, page 354). The man who placed Tippit’s revolver in the front seat of the
squad car was T.F. Bowley. In his affidavit to the DPD on December 2, 1963,
Bowley claimed; “Someone picked
[Tippit’s] pistol up and laid it on the hood of the squad car. When the
ambulance left, I took the gun and put it inside [Tippit’s] squad car…The
Police arrived and I talked to a Police sergeant at the scene” (Dallas
Municipal archives, Box 2, Folder 3, Item 14).

The Police Sergeant to whom Bowley spoke to
was probably reserve Sgt. Kenneth Croy. Although Bowley’s statement implies
that Croy arrived at the murder scene after
the ambulance left, as stated previously, Croy told the Warren Commission that
he observed Tippit being placed into the ambulance. Also, given the fact that
Hill claimed the ambulance carrying Tippit’s body passed in front of him as he
was en route to the murder scene, and that (as far as this writer is aware) there
is no corroboration from either Sgt. Owens or William Alexander that Tippit’s
gun was laying on the ground as they arrived at the murder scene, it is
apparent that Hill was mistaken or lying. Given all of the evidence discussed previously,
it is highly doubtful that Hill ever travelled to the Tippit murder scene with
Sgt. Owens and William Alexander, but instead was one of the two officers
inside squad car 207; which Earlene Roberts observed in front of the rooming
house on 1026 North Beckley Avenue.

As discussed in part 1 of this writer’s
review of With Malice, there is good
reason to believe that Tippit was shot at approximately 1:06 pm (see under the
subheading IV: Murder on Tenth Street).
William Lawrence Smith, who was working as a brick layer near the intersection
of Tenth and Denver streets in Oak Cliff, told the FBI on January 11, 1964,
that as he was walking east to a café on Tenth and Marsalis streets, he passed
by a man walking west, whom he believed was Oswald (WCD 329, page 83). Therefore,
if Hill picked up Tippit’s killer in squad car 207, he would have dropped him off
somewhere between Denver and Marsalis Streets. For the sake of argument, let’s
assume that Tippit’s killer was dropped off near the intersection of Tenth and
Marsalis streets. According to Google maps, the distance from 1026 North Beckley
to the intersection of Tenth and Marsalis Streets via North Crawford, then East
Davis, then eighth, then North Marsalis Streets is about 1.2 miles.

At an average speed of about 45 miles per
hour, squad car 207 could have arrived near the intersection of Tenth and
Marsalis Streets in about 1 minute and 40 seconds. Furthermore, according to
Google maps, the distance from the intersection of Tenth and North Marsalis
streets to the intersection of Tenth and Patton Streets is about 0.2 miles (322
m). At an average walking speed of 5 km/h, Tippit’s killer could have met up
with Tippit in about 4 minutes. Therefore, if Tippit’s killer got into squad
car 207 at about 1:02 pm, he could have shot Tippit between 1:07 and 1:08 pm. Despite
what the reader may believe, there is nevertheless good reason to believe that
it was Hill who was in front of the rooming house at 1026 North Beckley inside
squad car 207. As for the identity of the Officer with Hill (per the statements
by Earlene Roberts), although this writer thought that it might have been Jim
Valentine, a photograph taken by Dallas
Times Herald staff photographer, William Allen, shows Valentine pointing to
the location where the rifle was discovered on the sixth floor of the TSBD (see
here). The name “J.M. Valentine” can
be faintly read on his name tag. According to Dallas deputy Sheriff, Eugene
Boone, and deputy constable, Seymour Weitzman, the rifle was found at 1:22 pm
(WC Volume XIX, Decker exhibit 5323).

Although some might argue that it would have
been extremely foolish for Hill to have commandeered the squad car which took
him to Dealey Plaza; as he probably would have realised that someone inside the
rooming house would have been able to recall the number of the car, and that
the car would have been traced back to him, it is this writer’s belief that
Hill probably realised that it wouldn’t have made a difference. For the sake of
argument, let’s assume that after Hill arrived at Dealey Plaza in Officer
Valentine’s car, he took the keys to squad car 150 from the officer(s) who was
assigned to that car instead of the keys to Valentine’s car. Consider that Hill
may have thought that after the DPD started an investigation to determine the
identities of the officers who were outside the rooming house inside car 150,
the officer(s) who had given the keys to that car to Hill could have identified
him (Hill) as the officer to whom the keys were given.

Furthermore, we should bear in mind that Hill
may have thought that since the DPD most likely would have covered up the
presence of the squad car outside the rooming house; in order to dispel any
rumours that the DPD were involved in Tippit’s murder with Oswald, that it
wouldn’t matter which squad car he commandeered. To put it another way, if Hill
was arrogant and brazen enough to frame an innocent man for the murder of one
of his fellow officers in the presence of other officers inside the Texas
Theater, then it only stands to reason that Hill was also arrogant and brazen enough
to risk being identified as one of the two officers in front of the rooming
house inside squad car 207. Whilst some might argue that Hill would not have
reported over the DPD radio (per WCE 705/1974) that he was en route with officer
Valentine to Elm and Houston Streets if he was going to commandeer Valentine’s
squad car and then drive it to the rooming house, such a belief assumes that
Hill had already determined prior to his arrival at Dealey Plaza that he would
be commandeering Valentine’s car.

But why would Hill then tell the Warren
Commission (and then maintain during his interviews with Jeff Meek and Larry
Sneed) that he had travelled to Dealey Plaza in Valentine’s squad car if he had
actually commandeered that car. Consider that Hill may have thought that by
admitting he went to Dealey Plaza in Valentine’s car, nobody would believe that
he commandeered it, and then drove it to the rooming house. After all, it would
only have been in Hill’s best interest that the Warren Commission and the
authorities didn’t think that he was one of the officers outside the rooming
house in squad car 207, and had possibly picked up “Oswald” and driven him
towards the Tippit murder scene. Although the reader may not agree with all (or
any) of this writer’s opinions, the fact remains that Earlene Roberts initially
claimed that the number of the DPD squad car she observed outside the rooming
house was 207; and that by all likelihood, Gerald Hill had commandeered that
car from officer Jim Valentine after they arrived at Dealey Plaza.

What’s particularly telling to this writer is
that during his testimony, Hill volunteered that he didn’t remember what the
number of Valentine’s car was (WC Volume VII, page 45). One can only wonder why
Hill felt the need to state this, as he was never asked about it. In this
writer’s opinion, it suggests that Hill was guilty of commandeering Valentine’s
squad car and driving it to the rooming house, and had possible made this
remark out of nervousness whilst testifying under oath. As stated in this
writer’s essay on Hill at the CTKA.net website, the recordings of the DPD radio
communications (available on John McAdams’ website here) show that Hill was using Owens’ radio identification number (19)
when speaking over the radio, and that this was a fabrication by the DPD to
cover-up for Hill’s presence outside the rooming house. As this writer also
discussed in the essay, for the same reason, DPD detective V.J. Brain was by
all likelihood coerced into claiming that he was on the sixth floor of the TSBD
with Hill when the spent shell casings were discovered.

But if this was the case, then why wasn’t
Sgt. Owens coerced into claiming that Hill went with him to the Tippit murder
scene? Let’s take the following into consideration. Owens testified before the
Warren Commission on April 9, 1964 (WC Volume VII, page 78). Detective Brian
testified on May 13, 1964 (WC Volume V, page 33). On July 21, 1964, the DPD
provided the FBI with “…the original
recordings reflecting the radio transmissions of channel 1 and channel 2 of
[DPD] radio station KKB 364…” (WCE 1974). If the transmissions made from
Owens’ car provided in the previous transcript (WCE 705) were replaced with
Hill’s voice by July 21, 1964, then the decision by the DPD to cover-up for
Hill’s presence outside the rooming house at approximately 1:00 pm, was
probably made sometime between April 9 and May 13, 1964. As the DPD would
surely not have wanted the FBI to suspect that Hill was outside the rooming
house in squad car 207; since this may have led them to believe that Hill and
other DPD officers were involved with Oswald in Tippit’s murder, it only stands
to reason that they would have faked the tape recordings to make it appear as
though Hill went to the Tippit murder scene with Sgt. Owens.

In conclusion, there is one final issue which
this writer would like to discuss. As most researchers of the assassination are
probably aware, Captain Will Fritz told the Warren Commission on April 22, 1964
“When I started to talk to [Oswald] or
maybe just before I started to talk to him, some officer told me outside of my
office that he had a room on Beckley, I don’t know who the Officer was, [but] I
think we can find out…” (WC Volume IV, page 207). Fritz claimed that this
was following his arrival at DPD headquarters after learning that Oswald was
missing from the TSBD, and after he had sent detectives Guy “Gus” Rose, Richard
Stovall, and John Adamcik to the home of Ruth Paine in Irving (ibid). Before
reading what follows, readers are strongly encouraged to first read through this thread on John Simkin’s’ education
forum. According to disinformation extraordinaire Dale Myers, the officer who
provided Fritz with this information was detective Jim Leavelle (With Malice, chapter 7). Leavelle told
Myers during an interview in 1985 that Oswald told him (Leavelle) that he lived
in the rooming house at 1026 North Beckley, as Leavelle was questioning him
(ibid).

But as discussed in part 1 of this writer’s
review of With Malice, when Leavelle
testified before the Warren Commission, he denied interrogating or questioning
Oswald prior to the morning of November 24, 1963 (see under the subheading VII: A bird in the hand). So who was the
officer that told Fritz about the rooming house? It will probably come as no
surprise to the reader to learn that this writer believes it was Gerald Hill. When
Hill testified before the Warren Commission, he claimed that after Oswald
brought to DPD headquarters following his arrest at the Texas Theater “We were trying to get together to decide
who was going to make the offense report and get all the little technicalities
out of the way when a detective named Richard Stovall and another one, G. F.
Rose, came up, and the four of us were standing when Captain Fritz walked in” (WC
Volume VII, page 59).

Hill went on to explain that “[Fritz] walked up to Rose and Stovall and
made the statement to them, ‘Go get a search warrant and go out to some address
on Fifth Street,’ and I don't recall the actual street number, in Irving, and ‘pick
up a man named Lee Oswald.’ And I asked the captain why he wanted him, and he said, ‘Well, he was employed
down at the Book Depository and he had not been present for a roll call of the
employees.’ And we said, "Captain, we will save you a trip," or words to that
effect, "Because there he sits." And with that, we relinquished our
prisoner to the homicide and robbery bureau, to Captain Fritz” (ibid). Therefore,
by Hill’s own admission, he was with Fritz after he (Fritz) sent Rose, Stovall,
and Adamcik to Ruth Paine’s home. When we take into account the likelihood that
Hill was one of the two officers in front of the rooming house in squad car
207, it is only logical to believe that Hill was indeed the officer who told
Fritz about the rooming house. Of course, this writer has no way of proving
that this was the case.

As this writer has stated previously in the
essay entitled Gerald Hill and 1026 North
Beckley, researcher Lee Farley has made the case that Oswald did not live at the rooming house, and that
it was in fact Larry Crafard who was living there at the time of the
assassination (See the thread entitled: A
House of Cards? on Greg Parker’s research forum). It is this writer’s
belief that Crafard was Tippit’s killer, and that Hill picked him up from the
rooming house and dropped him off near the intersection of Tenth and North
Marsalis streets. But if this truly was the case, then why would Hill tell
Fritz about the rooming house? As most researchers are aware, the DPD claimed
that they found several of Oswald’s belongings there. As researcher Lee Farley
has pointed out, Oswald’s belongings may have been moved into the rooming house
following the assassination by certain DPD officers such as Harry Olsen, whilst
all of Crafard’s belongings were moved out (see the thread entitled Randle & Frazier contradictions on
Greg Parker’s research forum). If this was the case (as this writer believes it
was), then this would certainly explain why Hill would tell Fritz about the
rooming house.

Click here to go to part 2. My appreciation
goes out to researcher Greg Parker for generously taking the time to proof read
the essay prior to it being published on this blog.

Sunday, 8 June 2014

[Please note: The following was originally intended to be
published as part of this writer’s essay on Gerald Hill, which can be read (here) on
the CTKA.net website].

As stated previously in the essay, if Hill
left the TSBD at approximately 12:58 pm, and travelled to the rooming house at
1026 North Beckley via Commerce Street; by this writer’s calculation, at an
average speed of 50 mph, Hill could have arrived there at approximately 1:01
pm. During a discussion on whether or not DPD squad car 207 was seen outside
the rooming house by the housekeeper, Earlene Roberts, at approximately 1:01
pm, Richard Gilbride told this writer that “…local
TV coverage of the assassination first aired at 12:58 pm…” (See the thread
entitled Gerald Hill and the murder of
J.D Tippit, on Greg Parker’s research forum). During her interview with
KLIF radio on the afternoon of the assassination, Roberts claimed that she
received a telephone call from a friend who told her that the President had
been shot (click here). Roberts went
on to explain that her friend told her to turn on the TV, and that after doing
so, she saw the man she thought was Oswald enter the rooming house. As far as
this writer is concerned, Roberts’ friend was never interviewed by the
authorities.

Roberts also indicated that Oswald came into
the rooming house after she turned on the TV when she was interviewed by the
FBI on the day of the assassination, and on November 27 and 29, 1963 (WCD 5,
pages 353 to 356). She also repeated this claim in her affidavit to the USSS on
December 5, 1963, and when she testified before the Warren Commission on April
8, 1964 (WC Volume VI, page 438), (WC Volume VII, page 439). During her aforementioned
interview with the FBI on November 29, 1963, Roberts explained that she
recalled hearing the TV announcer state that the president had been shot and that
he was at Parkland hospital. Although some researchers may believe that this
places Oswald inside the rooming house at 12:58 pm, such a belief assumes that
Roberts’ friend called her almost immediately upon learning that the President
had been shot. However, for all we know, given the shock of learning that the
President had been shot, Roberts’ friend may have been transfixed in front of
the television for a couple of minutes prior to calling her. Secondly, such a
belief also assumes that Roberts’ friend was watching the TV just as the news
that the President had been shot was aired. However, she may have turned on the
TV a couple of minutes after the first announcement was aired.

Furthermore, we should keep in mind that during
her aforementioned interviews with KLIF radio, the FBI (and in her affidavit to
the USSS and during her testimony before the Warren Commission), Roberts failed
to mention how much time had elapsed from the time she turned on the TV to the
time she saw the man she thought was Oswald enter the rooming house. Although
the overwhelming majority of JFK assassination researchers believe that Oswald
did in fact live at the rooming house at 1026 North Beckley, researcher Lee
Farley has made the case that Oswald did not
live there, and that it was in fact Larry Crafard who was living there at the
time of the assassination. Crafard was an employee of Jack Ruby’s, who not only
bore a resemblance to Oswald and was mistaken for him by a number of witnesses,
but who also mysteriously left Dallas on the day following the assassination
(WCE 2250), (Thread entitled: A House of
Cards? on Greg Parker’s research forum). As stated previously in the essay,
it is this writer’s belief that Crafard was Tippit’s killer. It is also this
writer’s belief that Crafard was picked up by DPD squad car 207, and was then
dropped off somewhere to the East of the Tippit murder scene.

The reader should keep in mind that Earlene
Roberts told the FBI during her interview with them on November 29, 1963, that
one of the officers inside the DPD squad car which she observed outside the rooming
house blew the horn of the car, after “Oswald” had returned there at about 1 pm
(WCD 5, page 356). The obvious implication is that the car was waiting for
“Oswald” after he entered the rooming house. Although Roberts told the Warren
Commission that “Oswald” stayed in his room at the rooming house for “about 3 or 4 minutes”, she also claimed
that “Oswald” stayed in his room “…just
long enough, I guess, to go in there and get a jacket and put it on and he went
out zipping it” (WC Volume VI, pages 438 and 440). Roberts’ latter claim
implies that “Oswald” didn’t stay in his room for about three or four minutes,
but left sooner. In fact, during her aforementioned interview with KLIF radio just
a few hours after the assassination, she claimed that after “Oswald” came into
the rooming house he; “…got a short gray
coat and went on back out in a hurry…”

We should also bear in mind that Roberts made
no mention of “Oswald” staying in his room for any length of time; implying
instead that he stayed only for a short period of time after he returned. Besides,
if the man Roberts thought was Oswald was
actually Larry Crafard, and if Crafard was in fact Tippit’s killer; and with
Gerald Hill waiting outside to pick him up in DPD squad car 207, it makes
little sense that he would stay at the rooming house for over a minute. As for
why he (Crafard) returned there just prior to killing Tippit, this writer can
only speculate that it was to pick up the revolver (WCE 143) used to kill
Tippit (see here for why this writer
believes that WCE 143 was the gun
used to kill Tippit). Many researchers have challenged Roberts’ credibility;
claiming in so many words that her story about seeing a DPD squad car outside
the rooming house (as “Oswald” was allegedly inside) lacks merit. However, as
this writer explains below, the arguments against Roberts’ credibility are
rather narrow minded. This writer should point out that Roberts told the Warren
Commission “…I can’t see too good how to
read. I’m completely blind in my right eye” (WC Volume VI, page 444).
However, there’s no reason to believe that Roberts couldn’t have identified the
number of the squad car with her left eye.

In the 2013 (kindle) edition of his book With Malice, disinformation shill Dale
Myers cites the reports by DPD captain William R. Westbrook and Captain Orville
A. Jones, in which Westbrook and Jones wrote that Officer Jim Valentine handed
the keys to squad car 207 over to Sgt. James A. Putnam upon his arrival at
Dealey Plaza, and that the keys to the car (including other DPD cars parked in
the immediate vicinity) were then released to the third platoon commander at
approximately 3:30 pm (Dallas Municipal archives, Box 7, Folder 7, Item 6).
Although Valentine allegedly typed a statement in which he claimed that he had
handed the keys over to Sgt. Putnam, his signature is missing from the
statement (ibid). Whilst the alleged statement by Valentine is not the only
typed statement amongst the DPD files which is not signed, it’s important to
keep in mind that Valentine made absolutely no mention of handing the keys to
squad car 207 over to Sgt. Putnam when he was interviewed by the FBI on May 28,
1964.

During his interview with the FBI, Valentine
merely claimed that squad car 207 was “…definitely
not in use at 1:00 p.m., and, further, that he [Valentine] did not drive to the
Oak Cliff area…” (WCE 2645). Now if Valentine told the FBI that he handed
the keys to squad car 207 over to Sgt. Putnam, why would the FBI omit this bit
of information? It makes no sense to this writer. Myers doesn’t mention this
fact to his readers. It is also curious that in the aforementioned statement
(and during his interview with the FBI), Valentine allegedly wrote that he was
in the Juvenile Bureau of the DPD when he learned that the President had been
shot; and made no mention of Hill and Jim Ewell being in the car with him.
However, Hill told the Warren Commission that after Captain Westbrook allegedly
told him to go down to the TSBD, he “…got
on the elevator on the third floor [of the Dallas Municipal building] and went
to the basement and saw a uniformed Officer named Jim. M. Valentine, and I
asked Jim what he was doing, and he said, ‘Nothing in particular’” (WC
Volume VII, page 45).

Although this writer is of the firm belief
that Hill lied when he claimed he went to the Tippit murder scene with Sgt.
Calvin “Bud” Owens and assistant Dallas attorney, William F. Alexander, this
writer can think of no reason why Hill would lie about the above. If Hill’s
claim that Valentine told him “Nothing in
particular” is accurate after he asked him what he was doing, then it would
seem that Valentine didn’t learn about the President’s assassination when he
was allegedly in the juvenile Bureau of the DPD. Readers should keep in mind
that according to Chief Curry, the Juvenile bureau was located on the third
floor of the Dallas Municipal building (WC Volume IV, page 152). Given these
facts, the distinct possibility exists that Valentine’s statement was actually
typed by someone pretending to be him (such as Captain Westbrook), and that he
was coerced into not telling the FBI that Hill was in the car with him when he
went to the TSBD. It is also entirely possible that he was coerced into
informing the FBI that he had handed the keys to car 207 over to Sgt. Putnam,
but simply forgot to mention it.

This writer should also point out that
Valentine was never called to testify before the Warren Commission; even though
he should have been. Myers also writes in his book that “[Sgt.] Putnam stated that [squad car 207] was never moved until late in
the afternoon” (With Malice,
chapter 3).In his endnotes. Myers sources this claim to an interview of Captain
Orville Jones (WCD 205, page 532). But what Myers doesn’t tell his readers is
that there is absolutely no confirmation from Putnam himself that he was given
the keys to Squad car 207; and the keys to the other squad cars in the vicinity
of the TSBD following the assassination for that matter. In fact, during his
testimony before the Warren Commission, Putnam was asked what the nature of his
involvement was with the investigation of the assassination of President
Kennedy. Putnam claimed; “Just to assist
in covering of the Book Depository Building and aiding in searching the
building,” and made no mention of being given the keys to the squad cars
parked in the vicinity of the TSBD (WC Volume VII, page 75).

Now if Putnam’s duty really was to be given
the keys to the squad cars which arrived at the TSBD, then it makes little
sense that he would be involved in searching the building, rather than being
stationed outside where he could collect the keys just as the various Officers
arrived and parked their squad cars. We should also keep in mind that Charles
Batchelor, the assistant Chief of the DPD, informed the FBI that “…his records further indicate that
patrolman J.M. Valentine was the sole occupant of car number 207 on November
22, 1963” (WCE 2645). Whilst this writer doesn’t dispute the notion that
Valentine was the only Officer assigned to car 207 on the day of the
assassination, the fact is that he was not
the sole “occupant” of the car, as
both Hill and Jim Ewell went to the TSBD with him. We should also keep in mind
that neither Batchelor nor Captain C.E. Talbert (who was the commander of the
second platoon) told the FBI that the keys to the parked squad cars were handed
over to Sgt. Putnam (ibid). On a final note, as far as this writer is aware,
there is no confirmation from Captain James M. Souter (who was the commander of
the third platoon) that the keys to the squad cars were handed over to him at
approximately 3:30 pm.

Whilst this writer doesn’t dispute the notion
that Valentine was the only Officer assigned to car 207 on the day of the
assassination, the fact is that he was not
the sole “occupant” of the car, as both Hill and Jim Ewell went to the TSBD with
him. As stated previously, the obvious implication is that the squad car seen
outside the rooming house by Earlene Roberts was waiting for “Oswald” after he
entered the rooming house. Since the DPD arrested Oswald for the murder of
Tippit, Roberts’ claim would have by all likelihood led to speculation by the
news media that the DPD were involved with Oswald in the murder of one of their
own officers. With that in mind, are we to honestly believe that the DPD
wouldn’t do everything in their power to discredit Roberts’ as a witness? Of
course they would, not that those with an agenda of their own to discredit
Roberts; such as Dale Myers, would ever admit to this. In his book, Myers
writes that; “In assessing Mrs. Roberts’
credibility, it is worth noting that she didn’t mention the police car until
five days after the assassination” (With
Malice, Chapter 3).

In his endnotes, Myers sources this claim to
Roberts’ interview with the FBI on November 29, 1963. Therefore, he is wrong in
stating that she didn’t mention the car until fives after the assassination. But
in his zeal to discredit Roberts, Myers discounts the possibility that Roberts did
tell the DPD officers who arrived at 1026 North Beckley following the
assassination that she had seen the squad car outside the rooming house, and that
she heard one of the officers inside the car blow the horn. If she did, then
for the reasons stated above, she surely would have been told to keep quiet
about it. As a matter of fact, it is this writers’ belief that Roberts may have
seen “Oswald” getting into the squad car, and may have even have mentioned this to the DPD officers who arrived
at the rooming house following Oswald’s arrest. With the knowledge that Oswald
was arrested for the murder of Tippit, one can only imagine the looks on the
faces of those officers if Roberts did in fact tell them about it.

There can be little doubt that if Roberts did
tell them that she had seen “Oswald” getting into the squad car, she would have
been pressured into keeping quiet about it. This writer should also point out
that during her interview with the FBI on November 29, 1963, Roberts claimed
that after one of the Officers honked the horn of the car it “…drove slowly on Beckley [Avenue] towards
Zangs Boulevard” (WCD 5, page 356). When she testified before the Warren Commission,
Roberts explained that the car drove around the corner of Beckley to Zangs,
onto Zangs, heading north towards town (WC Volume VI, page 443). During her
aforementioned interview with KLIF radio on the afternoon of the assassination,
Roberts stated that she observed “Oswald” standing at a bus stop near the
rooming house (but didn’t see him board a bus). If this claim is true, then
perhaps this is where the squad car picked up Crafard. As for Roberts’ claim
that see observed the squad car heading towards town, it is entirely feasible
that the car turned right onto North Crawford Street, and started heading south
towards the Tippit murder scene (be sure to check Google Maps).

The reader should keep in mind that something
which Myers and others with an agenda to discredit Roberts evidently want to
ignore is that Roberts told the Warren Commission that Captain Fritz’s men,
Sheriff Decker’s men, the FBI, and the USSS put her through “the third degree” (WC Volume VI, page
436). Readers should keep in mind that the reason Roberts may not have
mentioned seeing the squad car outside the rooming house to the DPD was because
she may have thought that they were already aware of it. Think about it. If
Roberts really did see a DPD squad car outside the rooming house, it is
entirely feasible that she had assumed that the DPD Officers who were at the
rooming house following the assassination already knew about. But to those with
an agenda to discredit Roberts, none of these explanations matter.

In his book, Myers uses Amy Gladys Johnson;
the owner of the rooming house at 1026 North Beckley, to discredit Roberts’
claim of seeing the DPD squad car. As Myers writes, Mrs. Johnson told the
Warren Commission that Roberts was someone who would make up tales (With Malice, Chapter 3). This writer
should point out that Mrs Johnson told the FBI when they interviewed her on
June 8, 1964, that Roberts was 59 years old, had a “low mentality,” and that she (Roberts) was a diabetic (WCE 2996). When
Roberts testified before the Warren Commission, she claimed that she was indeed
a diabetic (WC Volume VI, page 435). But despite Johnson’s claim that Roberts
was someone who would make up tales and had a “low mentality,” consider that if the DPD had intimidated Roberts
into keeping quiet about seeing the DPD squad car outside the rooming house, it
is only perfectly reasonable to assume that they would coerce Johnson (and
others) into discrediting Roberts.

Readers should also bear in mind that as
researcher Lee Farley has explained, Johnson was quite likely involved in
covering up the fact that it was Larry Crafard and not Oswald who had been living at the rooming house on 1026 North
Beckley (see the thread entitled A House
of Cards? on Greg Parker’s research forum). As stated previously, Roberts
claimed that she was a diabetic. The significance of this claim is that
research has shown that diabetics tend to experience memory problems; due to
the high amount of blood glucose (see here
for example). Therefore, this (along with the fact that at the time of the
assassination, Roberts was close to the age of 60) could explain why after
being coerced into keeping quiet about seeing the DPD squad car outside the
rooming house, Roberts told the FBI on November 29, 1963, that she had seen it.
But if Roberts simply forgot that she was to keep quiet about seeing the squad
car, and if she had seen “Oswald” getting into it, why didn’t she inform the
FBI of this? Consider that for the aforementioned reasons, Roberts may have
forgotten about certain details of what she had witnessed. It is also worth
bearing in mind that research has shown that diabetics may be “cognitively impaired” (see here).

In his book, Myers also uses former Dallas
assistant district attorney William F. Alexander and former Dallas Morning News reporter Hugh
Aynesworth, to discredit Roberts’ claim of seeing the DPD squad car outside the
rooming house. When Myers interviewed Alexander and Aynesworth, both of them
claimed that Roberts didn’t mention anything about the squad car to either one
of them when they were both (allegedly) at the rooming house in the afternoon
of the assassination (With Malice,
Chapter 3). But as this writer will explain in an upcoming essay, by all
likelihood, Alexander was lying when he claimed that Hill went with him and Sgt.
Owens’ (in Owens’ car) to the Tippit murder scene, in order to cover-up for
Hill’s presence outside the rooming house inside squad car 207. According to
Myers, Aynesworth told him that he was at the rooming house on the afternoon of
the assassination after the DPD officers who had gone there left (ibid).

Most researchers who are aware of him know
that Aynesworth is a die in the wool defender of the Warren Commission’s
conclusion that Oswald killed both Tippit and President Kennedy (see here for example). So even if Aynesworth spoke with Roberts on the
afternoon of the assassination, and if she told him about seeing the squad car,
Aynesworth’s claim that she didn’t mention this to him should be taken with a
grain of salt. In fact, as this writer will explain in an upcoming essay, there
is good reason to believe that Aynesworth was also covering up for Hill’s
presence outside the rooming house inside squad car 207. Suffice it to say,
contrary to what an agenda driven shill such as Dale Myers wants us to believe,
neither Johnson, Alexander, nor Aynesworth are to be considered credible
witnesses when it comes to Earlene Roberts credibility.

Several researchers have also argued that
Roberts’ claim of seeing the squad car is not credibility, since she told the
Warren Commission that the number of the car was not 207. When Counsel Joseph
Ball asked Roberts if she remembered what the number of the squad car was, she
claimed “I think it was –106, it seems to
me like it was 106…” (WC Volume VI, page 443). But after Ball reminded her
that she told the FBI on November 29, 1963, that the number of the car was 207,
she now claimed that the number was 107, and remarked that “I don’t know where I got that 106 –207” (ibid, page 444). On the
day of the assassination, squad car 106 was assigned to two officers named B.L.
Jones and M.D. Hall (WCE 2645). According to the transcripts of channel one of
the DPD radio communications, at approximately 12:45 pm, Jones and Hall report
that they are at the location of the TSBD (WCE 1974). A photograph taken by Dallas Times Herald staff photographer,
William Allen (which can be viewed here),
shows that car 106 was in the vicinity of the TSBD following the assassination.

As for squad car 107, assistant DPD chief
Charles Batchelor informed Norman Redlich of the Warren Commission staff that
squad car 107 was not in use on the day of the assassination (WCE 2045).
According to Batchelor, car 107 had been sold on April 17, 1963, and that the
DPD didn’t resume using the number 107 until February, 1964 (ibid). It is this
writer’s belief that the DPD coerced Roberts into claiming that the number of
the squad car she had seen was 107 in order to discredit her prior claim to the
FBI that she had seen squad car 207. Think about it. By coercing her into
testifying that she had seen a squad car with a number which wasn’t in use on
the day of the assassination, the DPD probably thought that they would succeed
in discrediting her as a credible witness.

It is also this writers’ opinion that the DPD
coerced her into claiming that the number of the car was 107, due to its
similarity to the number 207. They may have thought that they could convince
the Warren Commission that Roberts had meant to tell the FBI when they interviewed
her that she had seen car 107; but that due to the similarity of the two
numbers, she “mistakenly” told them that the number of the car was 207. As
pointed out above, Roberts first told the Warren Commission that the number of
the car she had seen was 106. Given Roberts’ age, and the fact that she was a
diabetic, it is entirely possible that she misremembered that she was supposed
to say 107; only to then remember and “correct” herself. Whilst some might
argue that this is an absurd explanation, consider that due to the similarity
of the numbers 106 and 107, she could easily have confused the two numbers.

Although the reader might be wondering why
the DPD didn’t simply allow Roberts to maintain that the number of the car she
observed was 207, and to then tell the Warren Commission that car 207 was not
in use on the day of the assassination, the simple fact of the matter is that
they couldn’t. The DPD would surely have known from their records that car 207
on the day of the assassination, it was assigned to Officer Jim Valentine, and
that since Valentine had driven it to the scene of the assassination; it was by
all likelihood filmed and/or photographed by the news media. As a matter of
fact, as this writer has stated previously in the essay, it was filmed outside the TSBD (click here and go to the 14 minute 50 second
mark). With that in mind, it is with little doubt that the DPD realised that by
claiming squad car 207 was not in use on the day of the assassination, photographs and film footage could have
exposed this as being a lie.

One alternative would have been for the DPD
to somehow seize every photograph and film footage taken outside the TSBD
without a subpoena, in order to try and conceal the existence of car 207. In
this writer’s opinion, this notion is so patently absurd, that it is
unimaginable that any intellectually
honest researcher would seriously advocate it. The reader may also be wondering
why the DPD didn’t simply coerce Roberts into telling the Warren Commission that
she didn’t actually see any squad car, instead of coercing her into claiming
that the number of the squad car she observed was 107. In this writer’s
opinion, the DPD probably thought that it would be obvious to the Warren
Commission that they (the DPD) had harassed Roberts into making this claim.
However, by coercing her into claiming that she had seen a DPD squad car with a
number which was not in use on the day of the assassination, the DPD may have
thought that the Warren Commission would believe that Roberts was a delusional
old lady who had imagined seeing the squad car.

This writer should also point out that
Roberts told the Warren Commission that the car she had seen was black, and
that “It wasn’t an accident squad car at
all” (WC Volume VI, page 444). However, Roberts may have misremembered what
the color of the car was, or she may have been coerced by the DPD into making
this claim to discredit her (bear in mind that the aforementioned film footage
of squad car 207 reveals that it was not
black). What’s particularly intriguing to this writer, is that in her
discussion of what the number of the squad car was, Roberts remarked; “I want you to understand that I have been
put through the third degree and it’s hard to remember” (ibid). It’s almost
as if Roberts was claiming that the DPD had harassed her into changing the
number of the car. Although it is certainly not this writer’s contention that
Roberts deliberately said this during her testimony, this writer should point
out that she probably inadvertently said this due to the stress she was feeling
from lying under oath.

Before concluding the discussion of Earlene
Roberts’ credibility, there is one other issue to be discussed. When Roberts
was interviewed by the FBI on November 29, 1963, she told them that the reason
she recalled the number of the squad car was because she had “…worked for two Policemen who drove squad
car 170, and she looked to see if these were the two officers she knew parked
in front of the residence” (WCD 5, page 356). Although she didn’t name the
two officers she worked for, when Roberts testified before the Warren
Commission, she claimed that the two officers were named Charles Burnely and
Alexander, but didn’t specify whether Alexander was the officer’s first or last
name (WC Volume VI, page 443). According to the personnel assignments booklet
of the DPD, there was a Charles T. Burnley who worked for the Burglary and
Theft Bureau in November, 1963 (WC Volume XIX, Batchelor exhibit No. 5002).
Although there doesn’t appear to be a listing for an officer with the name
Alexander in the booklet, there was an officer named Floyd T. Alexander; a
ballistics expert who worked for the Dallas City-Council Criminal Investigation
Laboratory from 1957 to 1969 (With Malice,
Chapter 3).

When Roberts testified before the Warren
Commission, she explained that “I had
worked for some Policemen and sometimes they come by and tell me something that
maybe their wives would want me to know, and I thought it was them, and I just
glanced out and saw the number, and I said, ‘Oh that’s not their car,’ for I
knew their car” (WC Volume VI, page 443). Roberts also claimed that one of
the officers inside the DPD car honked the horn in the same way in which
officers Burnely and Alexander would (ibid). In the year 1997, Dale Myers
interviewed Charles Burnley, who happened to be the only officer with the
surname Burnley working for the DPD at the time of the assassination (With Malice, Chapter 3). According to
Myers, Burnley told him that he didn’t hear about Roberts’ allegation until
about four or five years before Myers interviewed him (ibid). Burnley went on
to explain that; “I joined the [DPD] in 1955
and as far as I know, I was the only Burnley that ever worked there. The only
Alexander I knew of was a Lieutenant in charge of the crime lab out at Parkland
hospital [Floyd T. Alexander] in the mid 1950’s. But, I never met him.

Burnley then remarked; “My impression was that Roberts claimed that she worked as a maid or
something for us, but at that time, I was living with my mother and dad. I
didn’t have any need for her services and certainly didn’t know her”
(ibid). Myers then explains that it isn’t known whether Roberts knew Floyd T.
Alexander, but writes that there was a Floyd J. Alexander who allegedly worked
for the DPD from 1947 to 1957 and knew Roberts (ibid). Myers writes that
Alexander “remembered” that Roberts “wasn’t very bright, had a limited number of
friends, and would do almost anything to get attention” (ibid). In his
endnotes, Myers references this claim to a letter (apparently) by Alexander
dated September 7, 1993, in the Dennis Ford collection. He then adds that unlike
Roberts’ story, Alexander didn’t have a steady partner, and didn’t “recall” Charles Burnley (ibid).

Whilst Myers and his ilk use the statements
by Burnley and Alexander to discredit Roberts, let’s consider the reasons why
their statements should not be used
as reliable evidence against her. First of all, as stated previously (and which
Myers never actually mentions to his readers) is that Roberts did not name
Burnley and Alexander as the two officers who were assigned to squad car 170
when she was interviewed by the FBI on November 29, 1963. It is therefore
entirely conceivable that in order to discredit Roberts’ claim of seeing a DPD
squad car outside the rooming house that the DPD coerced her into stating that
Charles Burnley was one of the officers who was assigned to squad car 170; when
in actual fact he wasn’t. This would have made Roberts look like a liar.

Now even if
Burnley was one of the officers who was assigned to squad car 170, his denial
of knowing Roberts may have been due to the fact that Roberts told the Warren
Commission that one of the officers in the squad car she observed outside the
rooming house, honked the horn of the car like Burnley and officer Alexander
allegedly would. Perhaps after learning about Roberts’ allegation, Burnley
thought that people would suspect that he was
one of the two officers outside the rooming house on the day of the
assassination; and perhaps fearing that people would suspect him of playing a
role in a conspiracy with Oswald to kill Tippit, he denied knowing Roberts. As
stated previously, Roberts did not indicate whether Alexander was the first or
last name of the officer she claimed she knew. In this writers’ opinion, the
DPD may have coerced her into claiming she knew an officer named Alexander who
was assigned to squad car 170, when in actual fact no officer named Alexander
was assigned to that squad car, with the purpose of making her look like a
liar.

Readers should also keep in mind that
according to assistant DPD chief, Charles Batchelor, squad car 170 was sold in
April, 1963, and the number 170 was not reassigned to another squad car until
February, 1964 (WCE 2645). As mentioned previously, Batchelor also claimed that
squad car 107 was sold on April 17, 1963, and that the number 107 was not
reassigned to another squad car until February, 1964 (WCE 2045). But what are
the odds that both of these squad cars were sold in the exact same month, and
that both the number 170 and 107 were not reassigned to another squad car until
the following February? Although this writer believes that there probably wasn’t
a squad car with the number 107 in use on the day of the assassination,
Batchelor’s claim that squad car 170 was sold in April, 1963, appears to be
nothing but a lie to discredit Roberts’ claim of working for the two officers
who were assigned to that car.

Although Roberts told both the FBI and the
Warren Commission that the two officers inside the squad car were wearing
uniforms (whereas Gerald Hill was dressed in plain clothes on the day of the
assassination), this may have merely been an assumption on her part, as it is
commonly known that officers who are assigned to squad cars wear uniforms.
Whilst the reader may not agree with all of the arguments above concerning
Earlene Roberts, the fact remains that she told the FBI on November 29, 1963,
that the number of the squad car she observed outside the rooming house was
207. As this writer explained previously in the essay on Hill; by all
likelihood, Hill was lying when he claimed that he was on the sixth floor of the
TSBD when Dallas deputy Sheriff Luke Mooney discovered the spent shell casings.
Furthermore, as this writer explains here, assistant Dallas district attorney William Alexander was (by all
likelihood) lying when he claimed that Hill went with him and Sgt. Owens’ (in
Owens’ car) to the Tippit murder scene.

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